41 More Units Planned for $20M Binghamton Apartment Complex

A developer is proposing to add a few dozen apartments to a project on the site of a closed Binghamton car dealership.

Sal Rajput of Walison Corporation said the company now hopes to have a total of 156 units in the complex planned on land southwest of Front and Clinton Streets.

The site had been used as a Gault Volkswagen dealership until February 2013.

When the First Ward project was announced more than three years ago, the Mount Vernon-based firm outlined a $20 million development that would feature two four-story buildings would have had 115 apartments.

One of the buildings was to have had 12,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.

At a Binghamton planning commission meeting, Rajput said Walison has scaled back the amount of commercial space to 6,000 square feet. He said the company concluded it would have difficulty renting the amount of space originally planned.

Rajput said the new plans call for 76 apartments in one building and 80 units in the second building. He said the revised project would meet city parking requirements.

The planning commission originally approved the apartment project in March 2021. It will hold a public hearing on the revised plans at its June meeting.

Rajput did not explain why the project has been delayed. He could not be reached for comment on when he expects construction will get underway.

The abandoned car dealership building is to be demolished, along with two smaller unused structures to the east of it.

Walison acquired several parcels needed for the apartment project in January 2022 for $1.8 million.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.